Should Monte Carlo tree search be able to consistently beat me in the connect four game?
You should not let the tree grow for only two seconds rather you should use the simulation number equal to 1000 or something like that. I use the simulation number equal to 10000 for making a single move in the tictactoe game and it was working fine for me. Also, after the agent has chosen the move you do not have to start the statistics(N = visit count, V = expected reward, U = UCT score) from the beginning, you can use the current statistics and replace the root node with the chosen node.